Business enterprise

Japanese: 企業 - きぎょう（英語表記）business enterprise

An economic unit that performs the social function of producing goods and services in a market economy, or more generally, a collaborative system or organization that creates economic utility, is called a business. A business is an economic unit on par with a household or a government, but differs from a business in that both are consumption units.

A company is an input-output system that obtains various management resources from its environment, inputs them into its production process, and sends out the results of production (output) to the environment. That is, a company first obtains the necessary management resources from various environmental entities (stakeholders, interested parties). Specifically, the company obtains capital from investors, labor from workers, raw materials and other materials from trading companies, funds and credit from financial institutions, guidance, regulations, and social capital from government agencies, and understanding and support from the local community, and inputs these into the production process together with the demand and goodwill of customers. The output is distributed to the environmental entities that made these contributions. That is, the company provides dividends and stock price profits to investors, wages, employment, opportunities for self-expression, and benefits to workers, payment to trading companies, interest and goodwill to financial institutions, taxes and cooperation to government agencies, a good environment and donations to the local community, and high-quality, low-cost products and services to customers.

A company can survive by balancing or equilibrium these various contributions and distributions. Therefore, the basis for maintaining a company is to adjust distribution to various contributors so that it is fair, and to increase the production results that are the premise of distribution. In other words, increasing productivity and fair distribution of production results are the basic principles of corporate management. Traditionally, the principle of corporate management has been thought to be the acquisition of profits, but this only satisfies the expectations of investors, and in extreme cases, the interests of other environmental entities may be sacrificed for that purpose. Modern companies cannot survive like this. With the diversification of stakeholders and increased sociality, publicness, and public interest (everyone's interests), modern companies are no longer suited to the pursuit of maximum profits, and long-term stable fair profits as a fair reward for capital are required. This shows that even if profitability is still included in the management principles, it should be paralleled with various objectives that satisfy interests other than capital. This is why social responsibility of companies is required.

[Mitsuo Morimoto]

Types of companies and their development

Companies can be divided into various types of corporate forms depending on the form of investment, ownership, and control. This is first stipulated by law, and a company chooses one of the legal corporate forms and wears it as its outer garment, so to speak. Legal corporate forms are broadly divided into three types based on the form of investment/ownership: private companies, public companies, and public/private joint ventures (mixed) companies. Private companies consist of individual companies, partnerships, and companies, but the majority are in the corporate form. Companies are divided into joint-stock companies and equity companies, the latter of which are further divided into general partnerships, limited partnerships, and limited liability companies. In addition, there are mutual companies (which are actually partnerships) that are unique to the insurance industry, and limited liability companies (which are considered to be joint-stock companies) that exist as a transitional entity following legal changes.

Public enterprises include special administrative corporations (such as the National Printing Bureau) that carry out operational activities (production), special forms (various "organizations"), and special company forms in which the state (government) invests/owns (such as the Japan Finance Corporation). Public-private joint ventures usually have a mixture of investment/ownership (e.g., the Bank of Japan = 55% government investment, 45% private investment), but theoretically there can also be a mixture of investment/ownership and management, such as private-owned public or public-owned private.

Legal form is the formal aspect of a company, and does not necessarily accurately reflect the company's actual situation. Large joint-stock companies and small joint-stock companies may be the same legally, but their actual situations are completely different. Therefore, attempts have emerged to more realistically reflect the characteristics of companies by progressively grasping and organizing the actual situation. This is called a corporate system to distinguish it from corporate form. In the case of private companies, the stage where household (living) and production are not yet separated, which is common in individual forms, is called a pre-corporate livelihood or family business. Even in production organizations where household and production are separated, those that are centered on family ties, which are common in general partnerships and limited partnerships, are called personal private companies. Companies that are managed through capital ties based on material interests and direct control by investors, such as limited liability companies and small and medium-sized joint-stock companies, are called capital private companies, and the pursuit of profitability is their central principle of action. The image of a traditional company comes from this. As the number of investors increases and management becomes more specialized, the separation of investment (ownership) and management progresses, and as the number of stakeholders increases, the social nature of the company increases. As a result, the company becomes a continuing organization that lives its own life, and is called an institutional private enterprise. Private enterprises generally develop and become more sophisticated through the process described above.

On the other hand, public enterprises start out as operational businesses (government businesses) that carry out production within administrative organizations. If the organizational aspects remain administrative while the financial and accounting aspects are separated from the finances and made self-supporting, they become non-dependent public enterprises (e.g., water and transportation run by local governments). Those that go further and become independent in organizational terms, such as public corporations and "organizations," are called independent public enterprises. When politics, administration, and finances are separated from management and they reach a state where they are almost free of any constraints from these, they are called autonomous public enterprises. Public enterprises generally develop and become autonomous through the process described above.

In highly developed companies, they share a common characteristic of being social institutions with a high degree of management autonomy, and the meaning of public and private ownership forms fades, with the two approaching each other in content. The reality of modern companies that have developed in this way is often called a going concern. It is a state in which the company forms an organization with a life and will separate from the people and formal owners that make up the company, becomes an institution that fulfills certain functions in the social economy, and engages in self-fulfilling activities for maintenance and growth through its own philosophy and strategy.

[Mitsuo Morimoto]

"Management Principles of Modern Enterprises - Conditions for Enterprise Sustainment and Development" by Maruyama Keisuke (1998, Doyukan)" ▽ "Latest Theory of Modern Enterprises" edited by Masuchi Akio and Sasaki Hiroshi (2001, Yachiyo Publishing)" ▽ "Modern Enterprises and Stakeholders - A New Concept for the Stakeholder-Type Enterprise Model" by Mizumura Norihiro (2004, Bunshindo)" ▽ "Corporate Responsibility, Governance and Regeneration - An International Comparative Perspective" edited by Kikuchi Toshio, Hirata Mitsuhiro and Atou Isuke (2008, Bunshindo)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

Japanese:

市場経済のなかで財・サービスの生産という社会的機能を担う経済単位、より一般的には経済的効用の創出を遂行する協働システムないし組織体を、企業とよぶ。企業は家計、政府と並ぶ経済単位であるが、これら両者は消費単位である点で、企業とは異なっている。

　企業は、その環境から諸種の経営資源を調達してその生産過程に投入（インプット）し、生産の成果である産出（アウトプット）を環境に送り出す、投入・産出システムである。すなわち企業はまず、各種の環境主体（ステイクホルダー、利害関係者）から必要な経営資源を調達する。具体的にいえば、出資者から資本を、労働者から労働力を、取引企業から原材料等の資材を、金融機関から資金や信用を、行政機関から指導・規制・社会資本を、地域社会から理解と支持を、それぞれ貢献してもらい、顧客の需要・好意（グッドウィル）とあわせて生産過程に投入する。産出はこれらの貢献を行った環境主体に分配される。すなわち、出資者には配当や株価収益を、労働者には賃金・雇用と自己発現の機会・福利厚生を、取引企業には代金を、金融機関には利子・好意を、行政機関には租税・協力を、地域社会にはよい環境・寄付等を、そして顧客には良質・廉価な製品・サービスを、それぞれ提供する。

　企業は、このような各種の貢献と分配のバランスないし均衡によって存続が可能になる。そのため企業維持の基本は、各種貢献者に対する分配が公正になるよう調整することと、分配の前提になる生産の成果を増大させることに求められる。すなわち、生産性の増大と生産成果の分配の公正が、企業経営の基本原理になる。従来、企業経営の原理は利益の獲得にあると一義的かつ単純に考えられてきたが、それは出資者の期待を満たすにすぎず、甚だしい場合には、その他の環境主体の利害がそのために犠牲にされることもありうる。これでは現代の企業は成立しない。利害関係者が多様化して、社会性・公共性・公益性（みんなの利益）の高まった現代の企業には、最大利益の追求はなじまず、資本に対する適正報酬としての長期安定的な適正利益が求められることになる。このことは、収益性がなお経営原理に含まれるとしても、資本以外のほかの利害を満たす諸目的と並立させるべきことを示している。企業の社会的責任が求められるゆえんである。

［森本三男］

企業の種類と発展

企業は、その出資・所有・支配の態様によって、諸種の企業形態に分けられる。それはまず法によって規定され、企業は法定企業形態のいずれかを選択して、それをいわば外衣としてまとうことになる。法的企業形態は、その出資＝所有の態様から、私企業、公企業、公私合同（混合）企業に3大分される。私企業は、個人形態、組合形態、および会社形態からなるが、中心は会社形態である。会社は株式会社と持分(もちぶん)会社に分かれ、後者はさらに合名、合資、合同の各会社に分かれる。このほか、保険業に特有の相互会社（実態は組合）、法改正に伴う過渡的存在としての有限会社（株式会社とみなされる）がある。

　公企業には現業（生産）を営む特殊行政法人（国立印刷局など）、特殊形態（各種の「機構」）、国（政府）が出資＝所有する特殊会社形態（株式会社日本政策金融公庫など）がある。公私合同企業は、出資＝所有の混合が普通であるが（例、日本銀行＝政府出資55％・民間出資45％）、理論的には民有公営や公有民営のような出資＝所有と経営の混合もありうる。

　法的形態は企業の形式的側面であって、企業の実態をかならずしも的確に反映しない。巨大株式会社と零細株式会社は、法的には同じでも実態はまったく異なっている。そこで実態を発展的に把握し整理することによって、より現実的に企業の特質を反映させようとする試みが現れる。これを企業形態と区別して企業体制とよぶ。私企業の場合、個人形態に多い家計（生活）と生産の未分離の段階を企業以前の生業または家業という。家計と生産を分離した生産組織体であっても、合名会社や合資会社に多い同族的結合を中心にするものを、人的私企業とよぶ。合同会社や中小株式会社のような、物的利害による資本的結合と出資者による直接支配によって経営されている企業は、資本的私企業とよばれ、収益性の追求がその中心的行動原理となっている。伝統的企業のイメージは、これに由来する。出資者の多数化と経営の専門化により出資（所有）と経営の分離が進み、利害関係者の多様化によって企業の社会性が高まると、企業は独自の生活を営む継続的組織体となり、制度的私企業とよばれる。私企業は一般に、以上のような経過で発展し、高度化する。

　他方、公企業については、行政組織で生産を行う現業（官業）に始まる。その組織面を行政組織としたまま財務・計算面を財政と分離して独立採算にすると、非従属的公企業になる（例、自治体による水道・交通）。さらに進んで公社や「機構」のように組織面も独立させたものは、独立公企業とよばれる。政治・行政・財政と経営を分離し、それらの制約のほとんどない状態に達すれば、自主公企業とよばれる。公企業は一般に、以上のような経過で発展し、自主化する。

　高度に発展した企業では、経営の自主性の高い社会的制度という共通の性格をもつようになり、公私という所有形式は意義が薄れ、両者は内容的に接近する。このように発達した現代企業の実態を、しばしばゴーイング・コンサーン（継続企業）という。それは、企業を構成している人間および形式的所有者とは別個の生命と意思をもつ組織体を形成し、社会経済のなかで一定の機能を担う制度と化し、それ自体の理念と戦略によって維持・成長の自己充実活動を営んでいる状態である。

［森本三男］

『丸山啓輔著『現代企業の経営原理――企業の維持・発展の条件』（1998・同友館）』▽『増地昭男・佐々木弘編著『最新・現代企業論』（2001・八千代出版）』▽『水村典弘著『現代企業とステークホルダー――ステークホルダー型企業モデルの新構想』（2004・文眞堂）』▽『菊池敏夫・平田光弘・厚東偉介編著『企業の責任・統治・再生――国際比較の視点』（2008・文眞堂）』